I really enjoyed this game because I'm a resident evil fan, but it scares you a lot more n creeps u out a lot more than resident evil. Good game still.

Yeah, pretty much the perfect game....

PERFECT story, and everything else in the game is absolutely top notch....

My absolute highest recommendation goes to Silent Hill 3. It does not get better than this!!

I found this gem in a pawn-shop. By that point SH 3 had become difficult to find. It seems like all these games have that defining fault. (Luckily I'm getting an X-box 360 about the time SH V hits shelves). Regardless I'm sure you've heard many things both good and bad about this one when in comparison to SH 2.

Well the truth is I'm not a SH 2 fanatic. I actually liked James alot, and yes his story was interesting but what some people termed "gradual build up of suspense" I thought was boring as I explored a town that was in many ways a bit too open ended. Yes, SH 2 is longer than SH 3 (I own it too) but does longer always equate to better? I suppose that depends on who you are.

The truth is I'm a lover of the first game. Alot of fans say it was too
"cult influenced" but when you think about it the monsters were STILL generated by someone's nightmarish delusions and it was still far more psychological than it was cheap shock thrills. (Not that there is anything wrong with the later either mind you. Yes, I do like RE as well.)

SH 3 is a little piece of black sunshine in many ways. First of all it is the first time a girl protagonist is introduced. I've heard many debates about Heather. You either love her or hate her. But before you past that judgement you should get to know her. Yes Heather is a wise cracking loner. She does not hang out with gaggles of giggling girls her age. She doesn't like being followed and yes, she has major "trust issues". If she was like this for no reason I could understand the angst of gamers. But as it stands she has a VERY GOOD REASON for being as paranoid and aloft as she is. The only man she can trust is her dad and when you find out who she was in the past you can forgive her for being abrasive. SH 3 does much to prove "human beings" are the worst monsters and not even Pyramid head can compete with the scum baggery of certain individuals out there.

The game is definetly a roller coaster ride. Your dream sequence in the amusement park is scary enough to make you question playing further. Right from the beginning you are dropped into the jaws of hell and they bite down hard.

SH 3 does mess with you. For example there are parts in the game you "almost" feel safe. No monsters around and you can hear comforting muffled human voices on the other side of the walls. You actually start your true journey having over slept in a mall that has closed down around you. Their is a very subtle anxiety about trying to make your way out of a building past closing time. Its' not you fear monsters or irrate security guards. It just feels creepy being in a place that normally bustles with activity after everyone has gone home.

In the first area Douglas a concerned detective and a strange woman named Claudia make their appearances. Douglas is hired by Claudia to take you back to your "home town" under the suspicion you have been kidnapped. Actually it gets sloppier. Your father killed someone in self defense and you have both been on the run awhile making your situation questionable. Apparently your "happy home-life" has not always been so happy.

Of course being Heather you don't trust Douglas the middle aged gruff cop movie reject nor do you trust Claudia even though she claims you used to be friends that grew up together. Like a typical teen with angst issues you set out on your own.

From here on out there are things worth noting. The first is the graphics in this game are darkly beautiful and filled with ambient atmosphere. Truth be told this is the best looking SH out there. Secondly the creatures are bigger and meaner. Some fans liked this...others did not. Regardless the strait jacketed spinning pendulums with their whirling blades and the fat grotesque insane cancers add a sense of claustophobia and impending doom when you are sandwiched in close quarters.

The enviorments are also worth complimenting. The subway, church, and lake side amusement park haunted house come to mind immediatly and throughout the game alot it divulged about your past as well as that of "The Order" everyone's favorite group of resident crazies.

Claudia and Douglas are interesting enough but when you meet Vincent your really in for a mind freak. Vincent is almost too genial and polite making you think a cackling insanity is being held down just beneath the surface. He even makes you question if the "monsters" you have been slaying are actually real people and it is obscure to figure out which side he is on.

As the game progresses these people fall into the roles of "watchers" "antagonists" and "supporting friends" but I will not give away anymore than that. Regardless the point is the side characters are well defined and intriguing which has always been a trade-mark of the SH mythos.

By the end of the game I was endeared to Heather alot. She was not perfect but frankly I get tired of perfect anyway. She was not "super model beautiful" but yet she was cute enough to be that girl next door you might have had a crush on. Heather is "one of us" the normal people and in that lies her charm. She is acessible and you could imagine hanging out with her doing stuff you'd do with your friends. Though she gets scared she is brave and dedicated. While her laugh sounds more like a whimper when confronting various monsters at least she trudges onward and once you DO earn her trust she's there for you through thick and thin. Females really don't have many good role-models in gaming so in that regard Heather is a breath of fresh air. She dresses plain and her cleavage is not about to bust out of her shirt.

I should mention the game-play is a bit smoother compared to SH 2 but not much. The combat system in SH has never been deep but if you could multi-hit combo creatures through walls it would defeat the aspect of being a normal smuck amongst terrifying circumstances. As before you get an assortment of melee weapons and a few guns. As before you can stomp creatures on the ground though some of them will try to latch onto you. Beat the game and you'll get a few nifty items that pack alot of punch or are blatantly ridiculous fan service.

The only negative gripe I have with SH 3 is not so much it is a bit linear (I don't mind that) but that it only has 2 endings. Ok 3 if you count the usual UFO parody ending but compared to SH 2 its' like they made a sub-way sandwich with less meat. It still tastes great but it is definetly not as filling. For some this will hurt the re-play value.

Regadless if you can pick up this game. I don't exactly know how easy it is to find but it is likely one of the better installments in the series.

And I don't think I could have picked a better one to start with. I started off quite irritated at the control scheme, but after getting used to it the game gets much better.

The puzzles are generally smart and varied and have three difficulty settings you can choose from (easy, normal, and hard--hard sometimes taking exceptional amounts of thinking on your part or ousdie knowledge of things like Shakespeare's works). The story draws you in and I always wanted to see what happened next.

But what makes the game is its atmosphere. Everything's dark and grainy and eerily quiet. The monsters don't jump out at you, they stay well back and wait for you to come in range, but you never want to. They're all sick abominations of things you could see in everyday life--pairs of pale, veiny legs with single red eyes, dirty, pipe-weilding nurses that drag themselves around the hospital, and trampling, cancerous masses of humanity that lie on the ground in wait until you approach.

And it's not just the monsters that get at you but everything in the game. You'll swear you saw a shadow dart across the room at points when there really is nothing there. The music tightens into haunting notes of urgency and finality as you approach the various evils of the game with only a pair of legs to run with and a gun, often with not nearly as many bullets as you'd like.

The game isn't really about shooting but about avoiding. You'll be glad you could shoot at many times, but real manstoppers like the shotgun you need to use sparingly as some enemies will laugh off everything else--not literally of course, there's no laughing here.

I could go on and on, but suffice to say--I really love this game. I've played games that were more fun, but never one as atmospheric and engrossing. You can't miss it.

Now I need to play Silent Hill 2...

Years after the original on PSX, Konami finally gave us a direct sequel, though we don't know that until a while into the game. Heather Mason is a teenage girl who seems to be having a normal day at the mall, when suddenly she finds that things have turned a bit weird. An old guy named Douglas keeps showing up and bothering her, but even stranger are the creatures inhabiting the place.

At first I wanted to hate this, because to me, Silent Hill is about bumbling middle-aged men who don't know how to handle weapons, but Heather won me over in the end. It was also nice to see it attempting to tie up some loose ends in relation to the original game, which is my favorite game ever.

The monsters here are mostly pretty well-done, though I think I prefer the ones in SH2. Heather isn't too bad with her weapons, though she runs like a girl. This made me yell at the TV through the whole game. The scenery really stands out here, it is all very well-done. The voice-acting is pretty good for a videogame as well. A worthy sequel, but doesn't quite live up to its predecessors.